When we moved into our office we installed a white cyc stage for our use and for use by friends and clients. I haven't had much chance to actually use the stage myself and was waiting for a good Shooting Challenge to submit to; this seemed to be the perfect match.

- Jon Michael Kondrath

Camera: Canon T4i
Lens: Canon 1.8 50mm
ISO 100
f/2
1/50

I decided to give this weeks challenge a go. Instead of using naturally colored lighting, I thought to try something a little different. The green tint is actually from 2 color changing led bars from ledunderbody.com. I set those over my box and got this wonderful green glow.

- Brent Moore

Duck Duck Goose

My husband built me a light box and still have five minutes to spare to go to our friend's house to watch the game! He'd done his job and left me to do mine.

I found the brightest part of our house. I used natural light from a window and a home made reflector to light the light box on all three sides. I tried out all sort of things in the box...from black piggies to whisky flasks but in the end chose a goose's egg which is quite simple but I think effective.

I built the light box in the same way as the article to which you linked. I first built it with white tissue paper, but I did not see that much light passing through. I also used light bulbs with a lower color temperature. I got some bad results, so I decided to reshoot. I picked up some daylight bulbs and got a plastic shower curtain liner. The results were much better.

I chose the fountain because it had a nice texture and I wanted to experiment with moving water in the light box.

- Chris Sears

Canon T2i, 55mm, f/2.8

I built my light-box with a 20'x20' moving box and a shower liner.

- Diego Jimenez

"Robot"

I made a light box out of a recycled shipping carton, tissue paper and duct tape. I then used three work lights with clamps to illuminate the project. I set the box on the floor and set up the lights on the legs and surface of my dinning room table. That meant that I had to lay down to take pictures, but it also meant that it only took about 2 minutes to set up the lights. Inside the box, I used a bent piece of poster paper to create an infinity wall for the back of the box.

The subject of the challenge is a small, toy robot that I got as a bonus present from my sister.

Fujifilm s100fs — f/8 — 1/60" — ISO-100 — 19mm — "Super Macro" mode

- Mike Case

To be honest I came home late Friday night to see my girlfriend had constructed her light box during the day, and left it setup before leaving to stay the weekend at her mothers. Incidentally she also took our camera, so these were shot with my Evo phone's camera. I thought the images looked decent though so wanted to submit!

- Preston Broussard

This shot is of an coyote skull I've had for a while. I aged it by soaking it over night in tea and by scrawling on it with pencil, then erasing it. For lighting I used 2 45W, 5500° K soft white bulbs and shot the photo with my tripod-mounted Nikon D70 camera with a 50mm 1:1.8D Nikkor lense at 200 ISO, F13, with a 1/2 second shutter speed with remote shutter release. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments.

- Omar Chapa

Puzzle Bolt

This simple puzzle made from a nut, bolt, and a split washer stumps most people for at least a few minutes. The solution is not immediately obvious. I like to pull this puzzle out after people have built up their confidence by solving other puzzles I have laying around.

I made my light box from a Dell box from my recent computer update. I used office clip lights with 6500K 23W (100W replacement) CFL bulbs. The clip lights were clipped directly to the box. I experimented with several materials for the diffuser including a painters plastic, plastic table cloth for parties, and finally on some thin white cloth. I used poster board for the backdrop.

In general the objects were evenly lit, except I couldn't arrange the lights to get good lighting on the front, so I added a flash as a fill light.

I built the lightbox on Saturday. I shot a bunch of very pedestrian things. On Sunday, I started by cleaning the house and waiting for inspiration to strike. As I was putting my wife's coat over a chair in the living room, I knocked over a statue behind the chair. It broke. It was my wife who suggested I shoot it in the light box. I shot the two pieces in the lightbox with both the head and the statue in focus in separate shots.I went on to take and edit more, fine shots, but my wife convinced me to return to the shot of the statue and head with the head in focus. The shot is dark and funny, and my wife should get the credit for it. Lightboxes are not for me. Thanks Honey!

50 mm
f/2.5
1/320 sec
ISO 100

- Rob Huber

Canon 7D
Lens - Canon EF 28 - 135mm
ISO - 200

Story:
I shot this Bioshock "Big Daddy" because I love the design and feel of these guys in the Bioshock franchise. They are so huge and heavy looking but also have that kind heart mushed inside that metal body for their "little sisters". This was a great item to add to my collection of toys and action figures, and every time I see it on my desk I smile knowing I have a Big Daddy guarding my computer.

- Mike Gallardo

Just a few days ago I swore to participate in the next challenge (for the first time), and as it happens I plan on selling a couple of things on eBay, so perfect timing and no excuses! The light box is a simple cardboard box lined with paper, and the sides and top covered with cloth. lighting comes from 6500K CFLs. The picture was taken with my trusted Sony DSC-W200 and a small $1.50 tripod. ISO 100, f/4, 1/50 sec. The object is a screw I once made and some screwdriver bits.

- Tobias Ammann

built a simple Light Box using an old Box, Tissue Paper and some new Daylight Light bulbs (50W, i think brighter ones would have been better) for 6 $ each and just put some random small things lying around in it. The one i ended up with ist an old piece of Coral that i found on one of my Travels on the Beach. A bit later i tried my Cat as a Subject but she ripped the Tissue Paper and i stopped taking more photos.

I used my new Canon 5DIII with a 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS at 100mm f 5.6 1/100 sec ISO 1000

Next time i think I'll use some brighter Light bulbs.

- Mathias Haldimann

T3i with a Tamron 28-75. I set up a light box using some old sheets and slave flashes, and started taking pictures of what ever was lying around. This ended up being my favorite. It's an old Christmas ornament that hadn't gotten put away yet.

- Daniel John

Couldn't find anything around the house interesting to shoot until I found the three bears. Made a quick lightbox with a 38 cent card board box, old shower curtain, and the best portable light I had around the house. Photo was taken with a Nikon d3000 ISO 100, 35mm focal length, aperture of 32 (f/32), and set it up on a tripod for a two second exposure with remote trigger. It was kind of fun, never done something like this before. Also I couldn't decide using the three bears or an old copy of NBA JAMs for the SEGA Game Gear (color),(I believe its the original portable color game system, but not sure, got it when I was in middle school). Then while writing up the email forGizmodo, decided to go with the SEGA Game Gear cartridge, glad I did. This photo was taken with a Nikon d3000, f/11, 1/5th of a sec exposure, ISO-100, focal length of 36mm.

- Tony Stanisch

Red Elephant

Canon T3i, Sigma 50mm f1.4 EX DG HSM. Shot at f/4, 1/60, ISO 400.

I used a cardboard box, white sheet, and 2 desk lamps, and off camera flash.

After hearing about this contest from a friend, I went down to my dorm room's recycling room and liberated a cardboard box. Construction of the box was a group effort, and the rubber band ball was on a friends desk.

- Kyle Trusler

Shot with a Canon Rebel T3i with a EF 50mm 1.8 II. Shot at 1/40 at f / 3.2 with ISO at 100. I've always loved the way this lens takes photos (THAT BOKEH!!!) So the story behind the ring is pretty special..well to me at least and it has to do with band! (No, not like American Pie unfortunately) This is a 2011 World Championship ring from the Drum Corps International championships in Indianapolis Indiana. I was a member of this group for 3 years and during my second year we won the whole shebang.

Drum Corps, is basically a professional marching band. During the winter months there is an audition process then during May through August the corps (150 members) rehearse and perform the show all over the United States. This particular year we toured the west coast for the most part, which doesn't happen often because the corps is based in Pennsylvania.

So that's my story. A huge influence in my life that has shaped who I am is in that picture right there.

- Zachary Tempone

I built the light box yesterday using your exact parts (as best found at Wal-Mart).

My wife makes steampunk jewelry, figurines, and trinkets, and she often talks about how hard it is to get the lighting right...
I saw this and I knew I had to make her one. :) (I'd never heard of a light-box before this. haha)
It's her birthday tomorrow (Feb 1st), so this will be a small, but great present for her.
Thank you very much for the idea! I'm sure she will love it, and be able to use it MUCH better than I can.

Just on the off-chance that I get a mention, would you be so kind as to throw out her facebook page?
It's http://www.facebook.com/RoniGirlART, she's also on Etsy, and a few other places. :)

Win or lose, thanks a bunch guys, this was a fun project to build!

- John Dowty

Well I have never entered a photo contest before, but I have always
loved seeing them and seeing the creative things that people end up
doing. I honestly didn't plan on entering this contest but as luck
would have it is was already taking pictures of a few small items that
I am trying to sell when I came across the contest description. So I
decided to try my hand at making an impromptu lightbox. I didn't use
tissue paper or multiple light fixtures or anything exciting like
that. I actually used 3 mirrors placed around a diffused fluorescent
light fixture on my garage workbench. To shoot the picture I actually
just used my Camera phone a Samsung Galaxy S2. I honestly was not even
planning on entering the contest (otherwise I would have used an
actual camera) I just thought it would be an interesting way to try
and take a picture. But the pictures came out suprisingly good enough
that figured it was worth sharing. The Camera settings aren't
adjustable in the normal photography sense but I essentially just
cranked the exposure value as high as it would go in the camera app
and made sure the white balance was set properly for the type of light
used.

Photo Story
I'm a huge comic book fan and have several Spider-man action figures around house. Including this bobble-head Spidey that I got from my girlfriend. I thought it might look neat to pose him under some decent light with the lightbox. I had to take a couple of shots with the same camera settings just to make sure his head wasn't moving during the shots. One slight table bump and I'd have to wait and start all over again.

- David Rusho

This image was shot with a Canon XSI.

My wife sells jewelry on E-Bay and uses light boxes quite often. Last
night she had the idea to put the baby in the light box and this was
the result.

- Aaron Stone

Camera: Canon 60d
Lens:24mm 1.8/f Sigma
ISO:200
Shutter:200
F:8.0

I used 3 lights pointing inside the box to light this, I also shot at 3 different exposures and merged to HDR using Photoshop